Numerical modeling technique for groundwater management in Samalut city, Minia Governorate, Egypt

The demand for freshwater supplies is progressively ascending owing to the increase of the population expansion and economic growth. Available water resources have been reduced by pollution and over-pumping. Groundwater modeling is a powerful tool for water resources management, groundwater protection, and remediation. The aim of this study is to develop a numerical groundwater flow model for the Quaternary aquifer in Samalut city, Minia Governorate, Egypt. The model is used to determine the hydrogeological conditions of the aquifer, the flow directions as well as calculating the rates of recharge and discharge between surface water and groundwater in the study area. Furthermore, scenarios were designed in the model to assess the response of the aquifer to increase the groundwater extraction in the future. The model was calibrated by trial and error; simulated results were compared to the observed head and contour maps, which were generally in good agreement. No typical steady-state condition is prevailed in the aquifer and groundwater flow directions are toward northeast direction. The River Nile acts as a drain in the study area, while El-Ibrahimiya Canal and Bahr Yusef act as a source of aquifer recharge. The proposed scenarios showed that surface water plays an important role in recharging the aquifer during increasing groundwater extraction. The results showed that the change in the aquifer storage will be decreased from +48,125m(3)/day in the current state (2013) to +27,134m(3)/day and -869m(3)/day when the groundwater extraction is increased by 25% and 50%, respectively.